The Secret to Not Growing Up
by HowShouldIKnow
Summary: What if Peter Pan's secret to not growing up was to grow up? How is this Possible?


I've had a very Peter Pan-y weekend. I've watched "Hook" "Finding Neverland" and the 2003 "Peter Pan" movies. This was a thought that kinda hit me that I had to write down.

I don't own Peter Pan. Nor can I claim the names of the Lost Boys in this story. I'm not very creative so I borrowed them from "Hook"

/S/

Captain James S. Hook glanced approvingly around the deck of the Jolly Roger. New sails adorned the masts, the deck had been sanded free of all nicks and dings and all the metal workings shone brightly in the afternoon sun. The compass had been swung and adjusted, the capstan greased, and the ship had been scrubbed down, inside and out from bow to stern. All in all, it was perfect. Everything was in order.

Now, all he had to do was hunt down Pan and break the news. That was sure to be an interesting conversation. Things were about to change in Never Never Land. Too bad he wouldn't be around to see it.

-0-

Peter Pan lay back on the cot and idly flipped a knife through the air before catching it again. Something wasn't right. In fact, something had been wrong for quite some time now. Peter didn't know exactly how long, time held no meaning for him. What he _did_ know was that things had been changing, _he_ had been changing. Oh well, none of it mattered, so long as he was having fun and going on adventures. That's all life was about, after all.

"I shot it, it's mine."

Peter nearly dropped the knife as the voices of the Lost Boys returning from the hunting game he had sent them on startled him from his thoughts.

"Nuh uh! That's my arrow sticking out of its side! Are you blind No-Nap?"

"Yeah! Right next to my arrow, which hit it first!" No-Nap shot back at the first boy.

Peter leapt from the cot sword and hand, and faced the group of boys. They were different boys than when Wendy had come to Neverland. After all, they had all left with her. The new boys had started appearing shortly after. So far there where five of them, No-Nap and Pockets, who had been fighting over who had brought down the wild boar, Thud Butt, Ace, and Don't Ask.

"Do I sense dissention among the ranks, men?" Peter asked, grinning and twirling the sword.

"Pockets cheated! I killed the pig and then he shot it again and tried to say _he_ got it!" No-Nap said.

Pockets looked outraged. "No! _I_ shot it first. I win the game. I don't cheat, cheating's for pirates."

"The both shot it at the same time." Thud Butt said diplomatically. "Ace, Don't Ask, and I agree. Both of their arrows brought down the boar. It was a tie." Don't Ask and Ace nodded their heads in agreement.

"Well, do you agree to their verdict?" Peter asked of No-Nap and Pockets. "Or do we need to play another game to decide on a winner?"

"I won the game fair and square!" Pockets claimed, not giving in. No-Nap looked disinclined to compromise either.

"All right! Start running. You both have five minutes before I come after you. Last one standing wins, got it?" Peter smirked and ran his fingers along the edge of the sword in his hands.

No-Nap and Pockets looked at each other and ran screaming and laughing from the tree house, each determined to win the new game. The three remaining lost boys pulled out their knives and began to skin the pig. Peter helped for a bit before flying out the door to decide the tie breaker.

-0-

Hook had gone by himself to stake out Pan's hideout. If he were to get the confounded boy to talk to him, he couldn't scare him off with a large group of pirates. No, that would never do.

"I shot it, it's mine."

Hook hid himself deeper within the foliage as he heard the Lost Boys approaching. Blast! If he had known Pan was by himself when he had first got here he could have been done with this whole business and heading away from Neverland already.

Sitting quietly, he could just make out the conversation taking place within the tree house. He chuckled over the argument. Boys would be boys, after all.

When the two boys came screaming from the hideout, Hook had hoisted himself into the lower branches of a nearby tree to escape notice. Now he simply had to wait five minutes before Pan would come out on his own. He lowered himself out of the tree and walked into the open, where he was sure to be seen when Peter flew out.

-0-

The last person Peter had expected to see when he started his hunt for No-Nap and Pockets was Captain Hook. And yet, there he stood, not ten feet from the main entrance to the tree house.

"Ah, Peter, nice of you to join me."

"What do you want old man?"

"To talk. Nothing more, nothing less." Hook noticed Peter tightening his grip on the hilt of his sword. "I am unarmed Peter, it would be bad form to attack me now. Especially when I have no intention of harming you."

"Hurry up and talk then, I'm busy." Peter said, sheathing his sword and folding his arms over his chest.

"Not here. Come back with me to my ship. I give you my word that no harm will befall you or your lost boys."

Peter eyed Hook skeptically, and then nodded his head. "All right, but no tricks." He had a feeling this would be much more fun than chasing after two lost boys in the forest.

"You impugn me honor, boy. Come along then, let's get moving." Hook turned and started to march through the trees back towards the coast. He hadn't made it five paces before he was lifted by the armpits and found himself flying over the treetops.

"You were moving too slow, old man."

-0-

When the Jolly Roger came into view, Peter was amazed; he had never seen it so clean. It almost looked beautiful.

He set Hook down on the deck and alighted next to him. "What's the occasion, Hook? Spring cleaning?"

"Hardly, come with me to the Captain's Cabin. I have something for you."

Peter followed Hook bellow deck and into the main cabin. Once inside, Peter sat in a chair and put his feet up on the meticulously clean desk. Hook scowled at the bits of dirt and leaves falling from his feet.

Hook walked over to the wardrobe in the corner and pulled out a box. He set the box on the floor and then took the hat off of his head and handed it to Peter.

"This is yours now." Hook said solemnly.

"What would I want your hat for?" Peter asked, confused.

"You must have noticed that you're changing, Peter." Hook said.

"What of it?"

"You're growing up, Peter. It's time for the next stage of your life. You don't get just the hat, you buffoon. You get everything it represents. Namely, the Jolly Roger and the title of 'Captain Hook.'"

"Why would I want to be you?" Peter asked, more perplexed than ever.

"You don't have much of a choice. I didn't." Hook laughed at the look on Peter's face. Not a mean or condescending laugh. If anything, it was a laugh that said he understood. "Surely you didn't believe you were the first Peter Pan, did you?"

Hook picked up the box and set it on the desk. Opening the lid he pulled out something green. As it was unfolded, Peter saw that it was an outfit made of leaves, which magically stayed green and alive despite being off of the trees they came from. Hook laid the outfit on the floor for Peter to get a better look at. A pair of green tights that had also come from the box was laid next to the leafy ensemble. (A/N: Think the Peter costume on 'young Peter' from "Hook.")

Peter got down on the floor to look at the garment Hook had placed before him. "I don't believe you. You could have made this recently."

"Search your heart, Peter, you know I tell the truth. Fairy magic is the only way to keep clothing like this in shape for wearing. What fairy in its right mind would charm an outfit for Captain Hook?" Hook reached back into the box and pulled out an old sword. "This was mine too." He handed it to Peter who took it gingerly.

Upon touching the sword, Peter lifted his eyes to look at Hook straight on. "You, you were me? And, I'm going to be you? And I don't have a choice? What about the Lost Boys?"

"Your Lost Boys will become your crew. As mine did."

"But where are you going?"

"Back. To the world where your Wendy was from, where we were all once from. My crew has already prepared the other ship to sail. We leave in the morning."

"And once you're gone, I'm Hook?" Peter asked, still trying to figure out exactly what was going on.

"Precisely. You'll have a number of years to play around at being pirates with your boys before the next Pan arrives and becomes old enough to start causing trouble." Hook picked his old Pan outfit up from the ground and lovingly folded it neatly and placed it back in the box along with the sword, careful not to snag it on his hook. "I wish you the best of luck . . . Captain Hook."

The old captain hefted the box, which held other mementos of his past as Peter Pan besides the sword and clothing, and put it in a row boat. Silently, he lowered the boat into the water and began rowing to where his crew had the new ship anchored.

Peter . . . that is, the new Captain Hook, remained in the Captain's Cabin and was sitting back in the chair, bare feet placed back upon the desk. He picked up the hat that he had set down and placed it on his head.

To be a pirate would be an awfully big adventure.

-0-

Elsewhere, back on the island, No-Nap and Pockets wondered why Peter hadn't found either of them yet.

/E/

The End. That's all folks. Tell me what you think.


End file.
